After one of the most drawn-out contract hold out situations of the entire offseason, the Dallas Cowboys and Ezekiel Elliot have finally agreed to an extension that will keep the back in Dallas for the next eight seasons.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Elliott agreed to a six-year, $90 million extension with Dallas that will keep him under contract until he’s 32 years old. Elliott was drafted by the Cowboys with the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and now it’s looking like he’ll play out his entire career as a Cowboy.
The #Cowboys & RB Ezekiel Elliott agree on a 6-year, $90M extension that makes him the highest-paid RB in the NFL, sources tell me and @SlaterNFL. Roughly half guaranteed. In all, it's $103M over 8 years—the 1st Cowboy to eclipse $100M in total value, the richest RB contract.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 4, 2019
Of course, this is a huge gamble for the Cowboys to take. From their standpoint, breaking the bank for a top-flight running back isn’t always the smartest investment with the league becoming more and more geared towards a committee backfield approach.
But the Cowboys decided to pay their workhorse in the end anyway, and Elliott was rewarded almost everything he was seeking in an extension while holding out in Cabo. Elliott is now the highest-paid running back in NFL history, eclipsing Todd Gurley’s four-year, $60 million deal and is set to retire a Cowboys considering the typically short shelf life of NFL running backs.
While some may balk at the length Elliott got on his extension, it works in a sense for both sides. Elliott gets the longterm security he wanted while Jerry Jones and the Cowboys don’t have to worry about the running back position for nearly the next decade. The length of Elliott’s extension should also make it easier for Dallas to maneuver under the cap space with so many players up for new deals.
Elliott is already the third key Cowboy to get a contract this summer, joining defensive standouts Jaylon Smith and DeMarcus Lawrence. Now, both Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper seem to be next in line as Jones and the Cowboys try to pull every trick to keep their young core together.
